In one incident, a protest organized by the leftist group “Jewish Voice for Peace” resulted in over 200 arrests. Protesters blocked the Brooklyn Bridge, climbed its structures, and chanted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a slogan that is a thinly veiled way of calling for the destruction of Israel and the eradication of the Jewish people living there.

In several cases, protesters across the country have openly supported Hamas and defended its initial October 7 assault, in which terrorists killed civilians while torturing and raping others. The organization took over 200 Israeli hostages.

In one disturbing episode, a protester told the New York Post that they didn’t “think the state of Israel should exist.”

The carnage that Hamas inflicted in October was devastating. I recently spoke with Dov Hikind, a former New York State Assemblyman who traveled to Israel shortly after the original attack. He detailed some of the atrocities Hamas committed against the Jewish people in the country and emphasized that “Hamas must be eradicated from the face of the Earth.”

Yet, Hamas has done much more than attack Israelis. The group, which governs the Gaza Strip, has also caused great harm to the Palestinians living in the region and has done so ever since it was founded in the 1980s. White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan noted during a recent press conference that the terrorist group has its operatives blend in with the civilian population, which makes it difficult for Israel to target members of the organization without risking the inadvertent killing of noncombatants.

Indeed, this is a tactic Hamas has used to great effect for years. If Israel decides not to attack because they don’t want to inflict casualties on the civilian population, the terrorists live to fight another day. However, if Israel does attack, and it results in the deaths of non-combatants, Hamas now has a propaganda tool to use against the Jewish state, one that the United Nations and other members of the international community will eagerly use against Israel.

On top of that, Hamas has prevented Palestinian residents from fleeing Gaza to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. Israel typically drops leaflets to warn civilians about impending airstrikes. But if they are unable to leave the region, then it is more difficult for them to heed these warnings.

In fact, Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ leader, recently said publicly on Lebanese media that the movement needs the “blood” of Palestinians to be spilled to inspire its operatives to continue the war against Israel.

I have said this before, and I say it time again: The blood of the women, children, and elderly… I am not saying that this blood is calling for your [help]. We are the ones who need this blood, so it awakens within us the revolutionary spirit, so it awakens within us resolve, so it awakens within us the spirit of challenge, and [pushes us] to move forward.

It is abundantly clear that Hamas not only doesn’t care about protecting Palestinian civilians, it actually wants more of them to die. In light of this, one would think the people who claim to care about the plight of the residents living in Gaza would be fully on board with Israel’s effort to eliminate the terrorist group. Yet, they are not.

Despite all the evidence and history showing that groups like Hamas have no interest in making peace with Israel or safeguarding the people they are supposed to govern, protesters in the West insist on placing all of the blame for the violence on the Jewish state. Indeed, at this point, it makes no sense to call these people pro-Palestinian. In reality, they are simply anti-Israel. They detest the Jewish state far more than they love the Palestinian people, who continue to suffer at the hands of Hamas.